If going 13-0 without a shot at the national championship were not bad enough last season, Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville now has the task of rebuilding his offensive backfield.
The Tigers lost Quarterback Jason Campbell, and running backs Carnell “Cadillac” Williams and Ronnie Brown, who were all selected in the first round of the NFL Draft along with cornerback Carlos Rogers.
Tuberville entered the season with four running backs competing for two positions, and early in the season there is not much clarity to the situation.
“We’re trying to build a personality with four guys,” Tuberville said. “And that was the intention, to use them all in the first few games to see what they could and could not do in building for our SEC games.”
Junior Tre Smith and sophomores Carl Stewart and Kenny Irons have shared the bulk of the carries with redshirt freshman Brad Lester also getting into the mix.
The four combined for 85 carries for 533 yards and seven touchdowns through three games. Irons currently leads the group with 181 yards on 25 carries.
“Sometimes guys react different when they’re starters,” Tuberville said. “So we need to find out who’s going to have the most confidence in being a starter, and who has the most confidence in being the bullpen guy.”
Sophomore Brandon Cox replaced Campbell at quarterback, and has shown promise the first two games.
In Auburn’s week one loss to Georgia Tech, Cox threw for 342 yards and two touchdowns, but also threw four interceptions in the second half.
Cox followed that performance with two more touchdowns in a win over Mississippi State, but did not throw any interceptions.
The offensive line returns three starters, including left tackle Marcus McNeil, who chose to return for his senior season instead of entering the NFL Draft.
“I love Auburn, my family and my friends,” McNeil said before the season at the Southeastern Conference media days. “I don’t mind if I have to sit around a year as long as I can stay at Auburn. It is a lot of fun and the atmosphere and fans are great.”
The receivers return intact with seniors Anthony Mix, Ben Obomanu, Devin Aromashodu and junior Courtney Taylor, who was the Tigers’ top receiver last season with 43 catches for 737 yards.
“Hopefully they are going to give us the opportunity to make a young quarterback be more productive than if the quarterback had young receivers,” Tuberville said in the team’s media guide.
Tight end also is a position of strength with returning senior Cooper Wallace.
The defense equals the offense with only six starters returning.
Senior nose guard T.J. Jackson is the only returning starter on the defensive line, and senior defensive tackle Wayne Dickens will fill the void next to him.
Juniors Stanley McClover and Marquies Gunn and sophomore Quentin Groves are the new defensive ends who are slated to play extensively.
“The defensive line is the fastest and quickest we have had with Stanley McClover and Quentin Groves at defensive end,” Tuberville said. “Both showed a lot of promise last year.”
All three starting linebackers return from last season’s team with senior Travis Williams in the middle and senior Antarrious Thomas and junior Kevin Sears on the edges.
Junior Karibi Dede beat out Spears during the preseason and has started Auburn’s first three games.
“I think our leadership will come from linebackers Travis Williams and Antarrious Williams,” Tuberville said. “They have had great careers at Auburn, and their work ethic with a lot of young players behind them is tremendous.”
The secondary returned two starters with junior free safety Will Herring as the cornerstone.
Junior cornerback Montavis Pitts also returned, but is listed behind senior David Irons and sophomore Patrick Lee on the depth chart. Sophomore Eric Brock is the starting strong safety.
The special teams return junior punter Kody Bliss and junior place kicker John Vaughn.
The team lost its punt and kick returner in Carnell Williams. Smith and Aromashodu are now the kick and punt returners, respectively.
Contact Clinton Duckworth at [email protected]